PENDER COUNTY — Pender County’s Jessica Biel sees the world of education through a different lens — one she refers to as more of a “kaleidoscope.”
READ MORE: Tri-county homeless count 60% higher than last year, numbers of unsheltered children on the rise
Overseeing the McKinney-Vento program within the schools, Biel works daily with students who are homeless to make sure they not only succeed in class, but also in life. To assist with her efforts at fostering academic and personal growth, Biel was awarded a $90,000 federal grant last week.
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act is a federal designation that provides funding to help students who do not have a fixed, adequate, regular nighttime residence.
Biel would have struggled to secure her position within Pender County Schools had she not received the funds. She plans to stock up on necessary supplies — fans, emergency recovery kits, space heaters, inflatable beds — with remaining American Rescue Plan ESSR funds, doled out during Covid-19 for added financial assistance to schools. Pender County Schools received $379,340.
What’s left over will go toward Biel’s salary — PCS does not contribute monetarily to her position — and setting up learning spaces in domestic violence shelters throughout the county.
In the 2021-2022 school year, there were 100 homeless students across all grade levels. Ten were in shelters, 65 were doubled-up (living with another family, for example), 16 were unsheltered, and nine were staying in hotels or motels.
The amount of grant money received was based on the number of students in the McKinney Vento program; Pender Schools was in the lowest tier — between 50 and 150 students — based on data from the 2021-2022 school year.
Biel will receive $30,000 each year, for three years. Funds roll over so she has the entire three-year span to spend all the money. She was one of only about 35 recipients statewide for this subgrant specific to McKinney-Vento homeless assistance.
She likened the different pots of money she coordinates toward initiatives to a poker hand.
“These are the cards dealt,” Biel said. “Now what’s the best way to do this with what we’ve got.”
A lot of the funding will go toward summer learning needs — sending kids to camp — and fun activities for kids who don’t have the “standard” home life or routine.
She also accepts donations, such as gift cards and gas cards, things the older students — her main demographic — can really utilize.
“What’s important to them is to have some semblance of normalcy that looks like everybody else,” Biel said.
Biel — who has been with the school system since 2017 — is Pender County’s first full-time McKinney-Vento coordinator. Initially, she worked part-time as an ESL teacher — she also speaks Spanish — and part-time with McKinney-Vento. She evolved into the full-time role in 2021-2022, a few years after Hurricane Florence ravaged the county.
“We went from about 150 students per year to 1,000 overnight, in 36 hours,” Biel recalled of the disaster. She also received national recognition for her work coordinating with displaced students in the county.
In 2019-2020, there were still 275 homeless students, with 185 directly related to impacts from Florence. The number dropped to 115 total, with 26 Florence-related families, in 2020-2021.
This summer Biel received additional national recognition for her unique approach to helping homeless students succeed, including entering college and technical schools. She’s signed on as a post-secondary consultant with the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth.
“I have a completely different lens than most of the other people who do this job,” Biel explained. “I don’t care if [the students] get mad with me. My job is to help elevate them from a downtrodden state.”
Students enrolled in the McKinney-Vento designation face various situations, from escaping domestic violence or living in a camper due to a house fire, to being evicted for not being able to afford rent.
Biel relies on teachers, counselors, and principals to spot children who may be in need. If a student is reported for missing consecutive days of school or seen wearing the same clothes three days in a row, she makes a call home to investigate.
In high school, a student is only allowed to miss eight days, but a lot of the teens Biel works with miss more than 20. When she figures out what makes a student tick and what motivates them, she uses that to help them achieve academic success.
“They learn stratification as far as what I need to know to survive,” Biel said. “It’s not so much can they do the work, it’s about value. What do they value?”
She also makes sure they’re in the right school according to their district and helps coordinate afterschool care if needed.
“If they’re in a shelter in Burgaw and go to school in Topsail, I gotta make sure we have a bus to get them,” she said.
McKinney-Vento designation stays with a student throughout the entire school year. It also provides them with free breakfast and lunch.
“Everything is done on a case-by-case basis,” Biel said.
Often social workers, counselors or other academic positions can fill the coordinating role, but Biel takes her responsibilities a step further, interacting one-on-one with students.
“Where I really thrive and set up the program differently is on the education basis,” she said. “What do we need to do to get you through school? What are you lacking in understanding? Do you know your times table; know how to read? Quite frankly, if you don’t get that, you are going to become your situation.”
What some may see as a challenge, Biel tackles with an open mind an energetic spirit, forming relationships with students and focusing on human capital: “Where is my time and money best utilized for the greatest outcome?”
“The social science behind this is unreal,” she added. “But it’s a lot of fun.”
Biel spent 15 years working for corporate America in international business. She also lived in Lima, Peru, doing mission work before earning her master’s degree in educational leadership and equitable educational systems.
“I know well enough to know what key points, key tests and key assignments [students] need,” she said.
Her background also grants her the capability of modifying assignments to make sure students get the required credits to move to the next grade and graduate.
“If we write a paper for history, we’re going to take that and utilize it in core English as well,” she said. “Some kids are really more artistic, and we use that. Draw out what you understood and make the connection. They need to know that you know.”
Biel collaborates with the teachers and finds ways to fulfill assignments that homes in on a students’ strength.
“I don’t think a lot of people understand just how intelligent these kids are,” she said.
She learns daily by interacting with the kids and navigating how they define their lives. Biel balances her time mostly between middle and high schools. For the upcoming school year, she contracted with Communities in Schools to hire a part-time position to monitor the K through fifth-grade McKinney-Vento students.
There were 135 students classified as McKinney Vento in the 2022-2023 school year, lower than surrounding counties. Brunswick County reported 178, while New Hanover identified 845 students last year.
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